No sleeping for me.

Thursday - morning

I woke up at 3:00 am and I was awake for hours.  I got back to sleep maybe around 6 am.  The kids had other ideas, however.  They started yelling, laughing very loudly and making  a lot of noise early.  It was so loud that I wouldn't have tolerated it even if it were the middle of the day.  Yup, I went out there and silenced them with one sentence. I have heard nothing from them since.

It's not like I don't need to get moving, but if I'm wiped out, I'm not getting anything done.  I need to go see if that guy actually showed up last night and I need to get over there and get to looking for a water heater on the rv.  I'm going to have to dig up the water line in back of the shed and install a water spigot, I determined they can just stay back there and they didn't seem to care about that, in fact, liking the idea.  The only thing I don't know and haven't checked is if WiFi reaches back there. 

Yes, the shed is right there, but the router is in the front window to get it pumping the signal out of that metal structure.  Anyway, I'm going to have to buy a sewer hose, an adapter line for the propane and hopefully find a water heater in there - somewhere.  If I can get all of that done, I'm done with that thing. They are apparently getting their own bed for the front for one of them to sleep on, I'll guess that would be the brother.  The back bedroom has a very nice curtain that is original equipment, or so it appears and is in excellent condition.  

I'm basically giving them a chance to get into something. They won't get this opportunity from anyone else, or not very likely to happen anyway.  No credit, no real, permanent address, just got into town a month and a half ago, other things - just didn't add up to creditworthiness.  But, since they will have to keep the RV in the park, there isn't a lot of exposure to risk beyond the fact that if it came down to it, I would have to take them to court for default and get them legally removed if they weren't to leave on their own.  I don't wish that upon them, obviously.  

Since the man at lot 10 isn't leaving any time soon - something it would have been nice if he had told me once he found out - I will have to cancel an overnight reservation.  I see no other way out of it. Wait, well I forgot, I need to chat with the people in the purple thing and find out their intentions.  If they are leaving, then I don't have to cancel.  I don't know what they're doing. They aren't working, that's for sure, I don't know where they get their money - or their groceries for that matter.  I'll determine my course of action with the overnighter after I talk with them.  Their intended stay isn't for another 11 days, if I cancel tomorrow, they have quite a bit of time to find other accommodations.  

Someone called me last night asking directly how much I charge for lot rent. Then "does it include all bills?".  Then they hung up on me.  Suspicious.  I think some of these calls are coming from other parks to find out how much I'm charging and adjust their rates accordingly.  

I've adjust wording to match other parks with "the best park in town" and "best rates in town", but I've also added "best location in town" - for it truly is.  I'm closest to the hospital and most of the medical buildings, supermarkets, etc. One park has "I have been in the business for many years, I know how parks should be operated" - yet he has a sardine can style setup and total gravel lot.  It looks ridiculous from my perspective.  

In other words, I have ramped up the rhetoric.  It's all true, I'm not making anything up, but it's much more - enhanced? - lol than anything I have posted so far.  

Now, I have a lot more money coming in if everyone shows up plus the beginning of the month coming up, I should be able to pay myself a couple thousand dollars even after paying the ridiculously high electric bill and stave off the creditors for a while longer.  No, I'm not in default on anything, I'm just saying I hopefully don't have to worry about finances for a while.  

I don't know if it was changing the wording on the Google business site, Facebook, Facebook ads - no idea, but something worked.  As I have said many times, I am new to this, have never owned a business before and well, I'm learning.  It could be I'm getting calls because other parks are full as well? The one I went to yesterday was crammed full of rv's. I'm thinking of having someone call them and see what their rates are, they aren't posted online.  I'd call myself, but I have a distinctive voice - or so I have been told repeatedly - and I don't know if these people have called me in disguise asking about my rates as well.  

I don't really get the idea of not posting your rates excepting to say that perhaps that's how they get people in.  They lowball.  Cut their rates just enough to eliminate the competition out of any given person's mind as to who has the lowest rates.  After taking a tour of all of the parks in the area, most of them now do not have their prices listed.  Scratching my head still, I can guess but I just don't know the point of it.  My research suggests people want it right up front: how much it's going to cost per night, week or month and what amenities are available.  

There were only 3 other parks out of all of them in this area that have their price listed. The 2 major parks owned by the same company are what I usually base my rates off of.  

Well whatever.  It's time to get moving.  The 8 year old wants to work, allegedly. I don't want the other 2 with me today. If the 8 year is going to work, that's what he's going for, otherwise, he can stay home.  I don't need the constant distractions to getting stuff done. Show him exactly what I want done - which I already have in mind - and then let him get with it.  Otherwise, I have to go through that RV and see if I can get all of this figured out so they can move in - tho I think they want to move in whether everything is working or not.  I'll be going to Lowe's today to get a sewer hose and I will have to alter the paperwork to reflect spending more money on it.  I want them to pay for all of this stuff, not me.  

Doesn't sound fair? Well, I'm not charging them interest, saving them a truckload of money. They would probably get an interest rate in the high 20's if they were even given the opportunity to get a line of credit to buy a used RV.  It's nothing different than going to a used car lot. They jack the price way up and they charge you a ton of interest. If you make all the payments, you have paid double or more what you would have paid if you could have gone to a private seller or a new car dealer. It's a racket and I'm trying my best to keep some standard of ethics in my business dealings. 

Anyway, time to go!

G'day